Over 15,000 General Power of Attorney (GPA) holders in around 120 cooperative group housing societies,who wish to get flats transferred in their name,may breathe a sigh of relief soon. For,the Chandigarh Administration has decided to allow transfer of memberships of a group housing society on the payment of a nominal transfer fee,which is expected to be between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000. UT Administrator General S F Rodrigues (retd) is expected to give the final nod on Monday.

Acting on the proposal formulated by Deputy Commissioner R K Rao in November last year,the Secretary (Home-cum-Cooperation) had sent the plan to the Senior Standing Counsel of the UT Administration for his opinion. It is learnt that the senior counsel concurred with the proposal.

A senior UT Administration official said: As such,the Administration has no legitimate clause under which such a hefty transfer fee can be charged. Such grievances were raised several times by federations from housing societies.

Sources said the Administration was contemplating following the pattern of the Haryana government,wherein the transfer fee is a few thousand rupees. Previously,the Administration had proposed that GPA holders be charged an unearned income for transfer of ownership of the flat,which varied between Rs 3.8 lakh and Rs 5.25 lakh,depending on the flats area.

However,according to sources,the proposal fell flat as there were no takers for the scheme.

A large number of litigations arise when the original allottee of a flat starts blackmailing the GPA holder,once the property prices rise. With the new decision,the GPA holders will be immediately eligible for getting the flats in their name by paying a few thousand rupees, added another senior official of UT Administration.